Diastolic time during weight carrying exercise in patients with myocardial infarction.

Cardiovascular responses to static-dynamic exercises were studied in 27 patients with recent myocardial infarction. Patients with ischemic electrocardiographic changes at peak weight carrying exercise (group 1 = 8 patients) had a significantly larger left ventricular end-diastolic volume than those without (group 2 = 19 patients). A higher tension time index and shortening of diastolic time/min was observed in group 1 compared to group 2 during weight carrying. Thus, in addition to the increased myocardial oxygen demand, shortening of the diastolic perfusion time was observed during static-dynamic exercise in patients with dilated heart after myocardial infarction.